Belief in belief: Even atheists in secular countries show intuitive preferences favoring religious belief
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Gervais, Will M.; McKay, Ryan T.; Brown-Iannuzzi, Jazmin L.; Ross, Robert M.; Pennycook, Gordon; Jong, Jonathan; Lanman, Jonathan A.
署名单位：
Brunel University; University of London; Royal Holloway University London; University of Virginia; Macquarie University; Cornell University; Coventry University; Queens University Belfast
刊物名称：
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ISSN/ISSBN：
0027-9663
DOI：
10.1073/pnas.2404720122
发表日期：
2025-03-27
关键词：
explanation
displays
confidence
PUNISHMENT
EVOLUTION
explain
FAITH
摘要：
We find evidence of belief in belief-intuitive preferences for religious belief over atheism, even among atheist participants-across eight comparatively secular countries. Religion is a cross-cultural human universal, yet explicit markers of religiosity have rapidly waned in large parts of the world in recent decades. We explored whether intuitive religious influence lingers, even among nonbelievers in largely secular societies. We adapted a classic experimental philosophy task to test for this intuitive belief in belief among people in eight comparatively nonreligious countries: Canada, China, Czechia, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam (total N = 3,804). Our analyses revealed strong evidence that 1) people intuitively favor religious belief over atheism and that 2) this pattern was not moderated by participants' own self-reported atheism. Indeed, 3) even atheists in relatively secular societies intuitively prefer belief to atheism. These inferences were robust across different analytic strategies and across other measures of individual differences in religiosity and religious instruction. Although explicit religious belief has rapidly declined in these countries, it is possible that belief in belief may still persist. These results speak to the complex psychological and cultural dynamics of secularization.